Just “teach”

The celebrations of Darwin’s 200th birthday and 150 years for the publication of The Origin of the Species are in full swing. We are apes equipped with 10 digits on our forelimbs, which we use in just about everything we do. We like numbers that are multiples of 10; even better if they are 10 times 10. Zelda Roland has assembled a collection of books in this month’s Wired magazine in honor of this celebration. Sadly, the collection of titles

It is sad that we need a book with such a title. But thanks for writing it, Prof. Coyne

selected reflects somewhat on the state of evolution by natural selection, at least in the USA, as a cultural controversy rather than as a scientific theory. Of the seven, two books are polemics, and one of those is a creationist polemic. When the centennial of Einstein’s publication of Special Relativity was celebrated in universities, museums and schools around the world, there was no “teach the controversy”; there was just “teach”. Unfortunately, this is not yet the case for the theory of evolution by natural selection.